It's A Wicked Good Time For Universal's `Undead'
= It's A Wicked Good Time For Universal's `Undead' = HHN13 Scareactor.jpg ttp://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-10-31/news/0310310244_1_demon-ghouls-lost-continent Actors Playing Demons And Ghouls Live It Up At Universal's Annual Halloween Scare Fest. October 31, 2003|By Todd Pack, Sentinel Staff Writer Savannah Barnes knows an army of ghouls is hiding in the shadows. She peers into the darkness, hunches her shoulders and clutches the sleeves of her shirt like a girl gripping her blankets when she's hiding from monsters in her closet. But this is Halloween Horror Nights, the annual creep-out at Islands of Adventure, and what the 18-year-old doesn't realize is that the harder she tries to pass by unnoticed, the more she calls attention to herself. So she's doomed. She's walking with her sister through the theme park's Lost Continent when she sees the Ice Demon, a woman in a sexy ice-blue costume, pacing on a small stage up ahead like a cat stalking its prey. Barnes doesn't know it, but she has stepped into a trap. She thinks the Ice Demon is what's supposed to frighten her, but the "scare-actor" is there to distract her from the ghouls attacking from behind. One springs from beneath a palm tree the instant he sees Barnes looking the other way. She doesn't see him until he's right beside her. Barnes shrieks and grabs a passerby for protection. It's the kind of reaction the park's undead live for. "I love it," says the ghoul who scared Barnes. His name is Frank Holik, and before the show, there was nothing scary about him. It was 5:30, an hour before the cast was to take its place in the park, but Holik already was in his costume -- grayish-blue long johns, rags and a shinguard and shoulder pad that look pieced together from bones. He had black makeup around his eyes, so his skin wouldn't show beneath the eye holes of his demonic mask. "I used to do acting in college," said Holik, a stocky man whose neat beard frames a friendly smile. He said he prefers musicals but auditioned for Horror Nights because he thought it would be fun. His regular job is running a clothing store. Holik, 35, is one of about 300 street performers who work in shifts in the park's "Port of Evil" and five themed "islands," said Rick Spencer, creative manager for show development at Universal Orlando. The street "scare-actors" are organized into teams and work in shifts, one replacing the other every hour or so. Holik's is one of two teams assigned to the Lost Continent, an island devoted to ancient myths and legends. He plays one of a dozen orcs, servants to the Ice Demon. "I'll pace back and forth and try to look intimidating," said Natalie Reinsel, 24, the soft-spoken music student playing Ice Demon on Holik's team. Unlike some of the ghouls in the park who are armed with real chain saws -- blades removed -- the Ice Demon's preferred weapon is a staff that shoots carbon-dioxide fog from one end. She'll blast anyone who gets too close. Does Reinsel enjoy scaring people? "Who wouldn't?" Dressed in icy blue, her comic-book-fantasy prosthetic cleavage outlined in neon, she is the first character most people see when they enter the Lost Continent from Jurassic Park. That's by design, Spencer said. "Her job is to get everybody looking at her so the other actors can come up behind them," he explained backstage. So, really, Savannah Barnes didn't stand a chance. "I hate this!" the West Palm Beach college freshman said after escaping Halik's ghoul. "Are they allowed to touch you? Because all through the park, they keep touching me," she said. "They aren't touching you," said her 21-year-old sister, Sheena, laughing. "You're touching them when you get scared and try to run." Behind them, Reinsel as the Ice Demon paces seductively upon her platform, effortlessly drawing more victims into the ambush. Category:Halloween Horror Nights article Category:Halloween Horror Nights 13